Changyi

So, as per my natural repulsion to married couples, I got to sit right next to one for the entire FOUR HOUR (I know it was sooooo long) train ride. It actually wasn't too bad. I just feel like it was foreboding the rest of the day.

Our cute liaison picked us up with two other men who immediately grabbed our bags and wouldn't let us carry them for the rest of the time! It was incredible! Driving through Weifong (the large city next to Changyi) was surprisingly calm. There's not very many people on the streets here compared to Beijing. And, thank HEAVENS (get used to the fact that I put nearly e'er thing in caps) Jacob and Riley (Jacob is the guy in charge of China Horizons, and Riley is his 8-year old son) were with us! We literally, not even misusing literally, would have been lost in the night without them. I can't fathom how any of the other people survived their first day without Jacob there.

We go to lunch, and have some delicious dishes including donkey meat (all I could think about was that poor donkey by the Great Wall :/), deep fried fishies with the scales and head and everything still on, and some lovely mian. The Rile-ster wouldn't eat any of it; and if he did, he pulled a face of obvious distaste. His manners were perfect. Perfect to make us look sophisticated. So thank you, Riley, for playing on the Kindle and contorting your body in bizarre ways to avoid eating deep fried fishies.

We then drove to the school and they showed us our apartment which is, by the way, ginormica. Holla! Come to find out, though, our Internet wouldn't set up, and also I took a nice three-minute frozen shower today! It's a fun time.

They chauffeur us over to the school and lead us up to the headmaster's office. Ohhhhhh Mr. Wan. Here's how I describe him. He's a big man. A big Asian man. But like, not really fat, he's just very big-boned and tall. And also he just stares at us and sits us on the couch for hours like we're pets. I'm not kidding. We sat on the couch for hours while Riley ate rancid peanuts and we drank liquified cheese. They did give us Dove chocolate though.

This is the part where the narrator on Spongebob comes into play.

"Three hours laterrr."

These people come up with a video camera and a camera and we parade around the school and the grounds while they take our picture and video us. Then we go over where all the junior high boys are playing basketball and they have us shoot hoops. In our dresses. While they video us. And watch us. Then they called us professionals because I can mock a pretty good shot. Keyword is MOCK. I can't even handle it. Once again, thank goodness for Riley being s'darn A.D.D.

"Two hours laterrr."

Marissa: Shelby.. I gotta pee. Really bad. AT THE APARTMENT.
Shelby: I need an Ibuprofen.
Marissa: HEAVEN HELP US.
Jacob: They need to go back to their apartment--

Creepy vice-principal who literally is OBSESSED with me in maybe a pedophiliac way: OHhhh kay. We take you back. Then go to dinner. Run in, get medicine, go to dinner.

Marissa: Wai---

VP: Okay let's go!

We have three seconds in our apartment to take a break. Thanks, thanks for that.

Then we go settle Jacob in at his hotel.

"One hour laterrrr"

We finally get to the restaurant. They stick Shelby on the other side of Riley, and I have to sit by the loud woman, who she sat next to, after they got all drunk. And on my other side was her friend who giggled incessantly at all the raunchy things they were probably saying about us in Chinese.

So they kept feeding us. And kept insisting that we drink. Over and over and over. Thank goodness I have zero temptation to drink alcohol, because it was an insistent offer. I can now say I've eaten pig intestine, squid, calamari (raw), giant beetle thing, and lotus root. I thought of you the entire time though, because the spinning disc in the middle was incredibly huge. They must have spent a small fortune on that dinner.

They were all semi-drunk when Flat-Top Man asked our translator to get us to come with him to our apartment to fix the water. But then he was like, only one. And we were like, um, no, both of us. And he was like, only one. And we were like, um, no, both of us. Etc. Then we both went. And we climbed all ten flights of stairs to our apartment and they literally walked in, looked at the shower, and walked out. Then we drove back to the restaurant.
?????????????????

When we got back, Jacob was leaving with Riley because he was pooped as we were but he's eight and can do whatever he wants, but they made us stay for dumplings. Our translator left with them, so it's four drunk women, four very drunk men, and us two sitting at this table. Then they started seeing who could down their glasses fast enough.

Shelby and I just sat.

And I've probably never wanted to cry in my entire life as much as I wanted to. Surrounded by drunk people, no English speakers, no Jacob, no phones, no Internet, no hot water, and no room in my stomach to even allow me to breathe.

Then, our stomachs already bursting, Mr. Wan, the headmaster, stuck five dumplings on our plates and sat and made us eat two. I almost threw up. And you know what? I wish I had. I'm still full. I can't handle very much food at one time as it is! Finally our translator got back and I was like, we need to go. Now. And she looks at Shelby and says, Oh, you very tired I see. YES WE ARE TIRED. TAKE US HOOMMMMMEEEEEE.

Finally, they take us home. But not without a thousand creepy goodbyes from VP. :///////

Then the Internet still didn't work. And I hated everyone. The end.

Oh. But then they were like, we take you to breakfast tomorrow at half-past seven?

AAAAHHHHHHHHH.

At 7:15 this morning, VP came to pick us up and rang our doorbell for hours even as we were climbing down our ten flights of stairs. And even though we spent nine hours at the school yesterday, we spent yet another two just sitting there.

But then a lovely girl came and saved us and took us home and brought someone to fix our internet. I think our original liaison, Penny, got a bit overwhelmed because she's a new teacher this year, but a girl we affectionately have named June is our new liaison. She took us to get SIM cards, and even paid for it! So we can text people. But who do we text? June. :) I literally have a non-gay creep crush on her just because she's adorable in every way. And she totally gets us. June was the girl who translated for us at dinner.

After the cellphone place, they took us to the supermarket! It was like a semi-trashy WalMart. Which is great, in my head! But how many stores do you know sell baby alligators in the back? Oh, well this one had them in stock so don't worry, we can buy baby alligators to eat in case we get hungry.

She kept loading stuff into the cart and would say, "Pick TWO." And we'd pick two bars of soap. "Pick three more." And we'd get three more kinds of fruit. It was lovely, really. She even stuck about eight moon cakes in a bag and said, Eat these! They are Chinese delicacy. They really weren't that good. But it was very nice of her.



We go to the check out counter and it ends up being about 430 yuan. For two grocery carts full of stuff. InCREDible. I go to pay for it and June refuses and pays for it herself. On the way out, she even bought me a comb! The man selling the combs told me how he's been to New York, asked me why I'm here, then said, Good. We NEED you here. Thank you, thank you.




I wanted to cry. These people are so generous and selfless, even though they have very little. They are happy, even, and are grateful for everything they receive. I love them so much. I can't wait to share the gospel with them someday.




When Shelby and I got back, we unpacked everything and then did some Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. OHHHHHH JILLIAN. You like to think it was YOU who kicked my butt, but I'd have to say that its the 95 degree weather with 400% humidity and an air conditioner that works minimally. Needless to say, you worked me pretty hard.




The next morning, we went to the school for a meeting at 7:30 that ended up being a nonexistent meeting.. We were led astray :/




So naturally, according to Chinese customs and culture,




-THREE HOURS LATERRR-




Literally, three hours later, I ask June if we needed to be there, and she told us we could go back to our 'department' to rest. We cleaned a lot and ended up doing our laundry in the sink because the washing machine leaks like a champion. It was a fun time.




This morning I woke up and read the Ensign for September, and as I was reading I felt the Spirit so strongly that every article was meant for me! Go ahead and read it. It's amazing once you put on a lens specifically on the Chinese people, how everything becomes relevant to you in a different way. The Lord is so thoughtful. I'm so grateful to Him.




We then went to the school to 'ask leave,' because we've been told we can't leave the apartment unless we ask authority, so we sat there for about an hour until June ushered us to the playground where we walked around and talked. She said we can call her our jie jie, which means older sister! She's twenty-three and is just that. I love her! We walked back to the school because we heard someone singing and up on the fifth floor, where the music room was, two teachers were singing an opera. It was BEAUTIFUL. Then they had us do a talent show of sorts! Shelby and I played and sang songs for about an hour haha. They even made me dance for them. Tomorrow, actually, the music teacher wants me to meet with her so I can learn a Chinese song! They taught me how to read Chinese music and I'm excited to go learn it!




We came back to the apartment and June showered here because she doesn't have hot water (apparently we do! We're just a little special) then we showed her pictures of home and made her a peanut butter sandwich. It's off to the park in ten minutes, though, so more stories to come!




PEACE.